Hi,
I am a student studying in Kanpur and I have always been very fascinated with Ladakh. I have never visited Ladakh before. Now I have some trekking experience, and I was thinking of visiting Ladakh this summer(Evidently I would like to go off the beaten track). But Ladakh seems to be awfully expensive for a student like me. I would be very thankful if somebody can point out a rough itinerary, within very tough constraints of money as I would be doing this trip without my parents knowing. I am willing to forgo all comforts, but I just have to be in Ladakh somehow.

I have been to ladakh... but not off the beaten track or on tight budget.
if you are willing to rough it out you can considerably cut costs.
1. the journey from kanpur to manali can be done very cheaply if you take sleeper class train to delhi/kalka then local non-delux bus to shimla and then manali.
2. journeys within ladakh can also be done cheaply if you have enough time at your disposal. there are few local buses and jeeps that carry locals(but these always seemed to be tightly packed). there are also a lot of tourists (mainly western tourists) who ask for lift from other tourists.

You can do ladakh for 10k for a whole month . It all depends on the guest house you stay at and the places you eat.

The All Ladakh Unemployed Youth Association (ALUYA) is really cheap. also if you go to the market opposite the bus stop it is even cheaper and all the locals eat there.

Also if you volunteer at places like the mahabodhi and secmol you can pay as low as 200 rupees for food and accomodation. It all depends if they have a requirement and you have certain skill they need.Skills can be english (basic to M.A), engineering, solar engineering,horticulture etc)

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare dream of meeting your heart's longing.

Hi Navin and Nayan and thanks for the quick replies. Navin I would love to stay in ladakh for a month, but unfortunately I cant at the moment. I study at IIT Kanpur and even my summers are not free. I would however like to visit Ladakh for a short trip, as a prelude to my later(for sure) voyages.
If somebody could tell me the exact places to go and the price ranges I should be expecting, then I can plan my trip in my budget. In any case my budget can't exceed 3000 rupees and I am looking for a trip of say around a week.

I dont know if it will be possible.
1. the return bus trip itself (while much cheaper than other options like shared jeep/reserved jeep/tempo traveller) will cost you more than 1000 rupees. then there is the expense of kanpur-manali return journey.
2. for a short term stay you may not get any great deals. I think you will have to fork out atleast 300 rupess per night for accomodation. food per day will cost you atleast another 50-100 rupees.
3. local bus service is very infrequent and I donot think it goes to places like pangong-tso. because you are going for a short duration I dont think you can opt for lifts from locals which may not fit your schedule. you will have to book a seat in shared tourist SUVs for sight seeings. any of the sight seeings like pangong-tso, lamayuru, nubra valley etc will cost atleast Rs500 per head in a shared qualis.

Originally Posted by satanicoutput If somebody could tell me the exact places to go and the price ranges I should be expecting, then I can plan my trip in my budget. In any case my budget can't exceed 3000 rupees and I am looking for a trip of say around a week.

First thing first, It will take minimum 3 days to reach Leh, and same for the return. And not to forget the road condition, rain etc and the time taken is in Gods hand. Usually it will be 6 days.
That leaves you with 1 day in Leh.

Now decide if you want to go to Leh?
Thats for sure, the trip from Manali to Leh will be simply funtastic.

Travelling to leh from kanpur and back will only cost you 3k !! Rest how can you rough out staying food can be met out at 150 buck s daily too !! Extend your budget by another 2k then it shall be possible satani !! What are you pursuing @ IIT kanpur ?

JUST GOT THIS LIST DRAFTED BY ANOTHER MEMBER FROM BCMTOURING HOPE IT HELPS YOU too
Here is a list of guest houses in Leh

Most of these guest houses has Single as well as double rooms.

General range of tarrif
For single Rs. 50/- to Rs. 300/-
For Double Rs. 150/- to Rs. 500/-

yogesh is right on..... Spiti will be much cheaper and the scenery/culture is just as great (I thought it was even more isolated than ladakh).
you can do shimla to recong peo to kaza very cheaply by regular govt bus. you can stay cheaply in Nako, Tabo and Kaza in guesthouses for 200 rupees per night easily.
You can go through my Kinnaur/Spiti trip report for some idea but mind you.... mine was not a budget trip.Trip report : Kinnaur Spiti tour - April 2008

This may be partially from me mostly coming at the tail end of the season , but my experience from Ladakh is somewhat different : don´t think I´ve ever paid more than Rs 300 for a room , a very nice corner room in a GH with solar heated showers, less in gompa GH´s etc.

Public buses run along the Indus valley fairly frequently , I´ve also used these to Nubra though these don´t run on a daily basis.

I just came back from a wonderful trek to dodital so couldnt respond to all the messages.
@mridula
The adventure club is spending on equipement so they are not subsiding the trips that much. Plus Leh is not regular adv. club stuff.
@saajan
I am doing my BTech in Civil Engineering (2nd year) Thanx for the detailed list.
Seeing that its kinda difficult for my budget to accommodate Leh this year, I plan on visiting Spiti instead. I saw the photos and its stunning. Neways thanx all for the info. Ciao
Rohit

I have Planned a Trip to Zankar Valley in the First week of June.
Plz advise me on any must do things in Zankar Valley, i would be in the valley for Approx 4-5 Days. Rest I would be sharing my Brief Interniary for Feeback & advise.

Originally Posted by satanicoutputHi,
I am a student studying in Kanpur and I have always been very fascinated with Ladakh. I have never visited Ladakh before. Now I have some trekking experience, and I was thinking of visiting Ladakh this summer(Evidently I would like to go off the beaten track). But Ladakh seems to be awfully expensive for a student like me. I would be very thankful if somebody can point out a rough itinerary, within very tough constraints of money as I would be doing this trip without my parents knowing. I am willing to forgo all comforts, but I just have to be in Ladakh somehow.

Satanicoutput

PS: Any chance of me finding a summer job there?

Hello there,

We spend approx 7 - 10k that includes fuel for our motorcycles
The maximum expenditure would only be on food / accomadation
You can get decent rooms for approx 150 - 300 bucks if you have the bargaining skills. You can also bargain with 4 start resorts
It all depends on what your entire plan is.